1 Corinthians chapter 10. I only have one verse of Scripture
that I want to read to you. In verse 1. 2 Corinthians. Did I say 1 Corinthians?
I'm sorry. 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse
1. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse
1. The title of my message this
morning is, The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ. It comes
directly out of verse 1. Now I, Paul, myself, beseech
you, I beg of you, I pray unto you, by the meekness and gentleness
of Christ, who in presence I am base among you, I am lowly and
weak, But being absent, I am bold toward you." The meekness
and gentleness of Christ. One of the saddest incidents
that took place, and it was probably in the Corinthian church worse
than the other churches. Almost every place that this
great apostle went to preach, he had these false teachers,
sometimes he called them false apostles, that followed him around
that undermined his authority, saying such things that he wasn't
an apostle of Christ. That he did what he did out of
sinful, fleshly motives. And they tried to undermine his
authority because they knew if they did that, then they undermined
the message. And the sad thing about it was,
especially this church and the Church of Galatia, They begin
to give credit to these false apostles. And they begin to consider,
was the apostle Paul a true apostle of Christ or not? Was the real
apostle still there at Jerusalem, or was Paul the called apostle
of Christ? And he answered those questions.
He said, if I'm not an apostle to others, I'm not an apostle
to you. When I came to you declaring
the gospel the testimony of God and you heard and you believed
and you were saved by the gospel. So he said I am an apostle to
you. Another thing that they accused
him of is preaching for money. They said he's getting all this
money and these offerings And he was receiving money, he didn't
deny that, but he was using it for the good of the churches,
giving money to the poor saints up in Jerusalem and so forth.
And what he did, he quit taking an offering from this church.
He wouldn't receive any money from this church. He said, when
I was with you and I needed something, the church at Macedonia sent
it to me. I never received a penny from
you. And that was good enough for these scoundrels, you know,
accusing him of preaching for money. And they even made fun
of his physical appearance. I thought it was very telling.
This word Paul here in verse 1, I Paul, that word Paul means
little. Little. And what they were saying
about him, and he mentions it here in this chapter. In verse 10, For his letters
say they are weighty and powerful. Boy, he can write some strong
letters. But his bodily presence is weak and his speech is contemptible. He obviously was a small man
in stature. Some say he had no hair on his
head and his eyes looked funny. I don't know. But they said,
look at that little guy. He has no physical presence. His presence and his voice doesn't
even demand a hearing. Who is this little worm? That's
what they said about him. mocking him, you know. And he
even said himself, when I was with you, I was with you in weakness
and fear and much trembling. Some of these false apostles
would get up and they had these physical presence that beller
out their message. And people were intimidated by
them and so forth. Then your poor Paul gets up and
his voice is weak and he's trembling and he's weeping as he preaches.
And they said, look at him, how contemptible he is. But you know,
one of the ways he answered them was in verse 18 of this chapter. Look what he says in verse 18.
Well, look in verse 17. But he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. Paul says, here's one of the
things I'll say in my own defense. I'm not glorying in myself. I'm
not glorying in my own wisdom, my own abilities. I'm glorying
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God knows my heart. I'm glorying
in Him. And he says in verse 18, where
it's not he that commendeth himself that's approved, but whom the
Lord commends. He says, you may accuse me of
all these things, in the end it doesn't matter if God puts
His hand on me. If God approves of me. If I know
the Lord looks upon my ministry and my motives, And He commends
me for it. That's all that matters. A man
may commend himself. And others may commend him. But
here's the question. Is God commending you? Does God
approve of you? That's the question. But Paul
uses this as his argument here in verse 1 when these men said
there in verse 2, you walk after the flesh. What he could have
did He could have used the authority that he had as an apostle. He had power as an apostle. He wrote in another place, he
said, you want me to come to you with a rod or in love or
in weakness? And he could have came in the
rod. He had authority to rise up and defend his apostleship
and his loyalties. There was one time that he turned
a man in this very church over to Satan for the destruction
of his body. He had authority, didn't he?
There was another time he smote a man with blindness that was
trying to hinder the gospel. So he had authority. He could
have defended himself with his apostolic authority. But he does
something here that is amazing, and I think he shows himself
to have the meekness and the image of the dear Master. And He says here in my text,
He pleads with them. He prays them. Come and reason
with me about this. And I beseech you by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ. He laid aside His authority as
an apostle to correct them that way. And He says, yet here's
the way I want to talk with you and reason with you. I beseech
you by the gentleness of Christ, by the meekness of the Lord Jesus. And you know you're the man that
knew something about the meekness and gentleness of Christ, didn't
you? You hold that text because we'll
be coming back there. But I want you to look over here
in 1 Timothy. Chapter 1, and look in verse
12. Here was a man that they just
sang about. He was on the road to Damascus
with letters in his hand to take the Christians and stone
them and maybe put them in prison for life. And he said, I did
it. I did it with such enthusiasm. I hated him with all my heart. I thought within myself I ought
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul was a self-righteous Jew, but he was an ungodly man and
didn't even know it. And look how he says it here
in verse 12 of 1 Timothy chapter 1. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
who hath enabled me He counted me faithful, putting me into
the ministry, who was before a blasphemer." Now he blasphemed. He was among the Gentiles or
among the Pharisees who called Jesus Christ a blasphemer. He
said, well, the man has a devil. Don't hear him. He's a liar.
He's an illegitimate son. He's a Samaritan. That's what
he called Christ. I was a blasphemer, he said.
And I was a persecutor. Remember what Christ confronted
him with? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me? And injurious, that word means
to be proud and haughty. And it's not just him doing something,
but the manner in which he did it. But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly and unbelief. And the grace of the Lord Jesus
was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Albeit for this cause
I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth
all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on Him to life everlasting. He said, the Lord Jesus saved
me to use me as a pattern. I'm the chief of sinners. And
He shows in me His meekness and lowliness and His longsuffering. And if I was making this statement
today, I'd say, if He saved me, He can save anybody. If He was
so patient in longsuffering, and good and kind and gentle
to me, then cannot He save anybody if He's pleased to and if it's
His will. Meekness and gentleness. These two words are so much alike,
it's difficult to define them separately. Because putting together,
they mean mild of temper, soft gentle, not easy, provoked or
irritated, yielding, given to forbearance under injuries, a
kind behavior, softness of manners, mildness of temper, sweetness
of disposition. That's what both of these words
mean. It's hard to distinguish between them. But one man said
this about these words. He said meekness suggests a disposition
of mind and heart, what a person is within, while gentleness is
appropriated, or it has to do, rather, to actions. Meekness
is the temperament or habit of mind, while gentleness expresses
an active dealing with others. Meekness is what Christ is within
his heart. Gentleness is the way he manifests
that meekness in his dealings and his actions with others.
He does what he does. That's his gentleness, because
he is what he is. He's meek in his heart. We often associate these two
things, or at least the world does, such a disposition as this,
with weakness. If you're meek, then you must
be weak. If you're mild, if you're long-suffering,
if you're gentle, it must be because you're weak. I used to
go visit a man in prison, and not long after he went in there,
he was sort of a small man. wasn't able, I guess, to defend
himself. And I got to noticing, as I was going back, he kept
getting more muscular, more muscular. And I said, you know, you're
working out a lot, aren't you? He said, in here you cannot display
any weakness. You cannot display any weakness.
They don't take meekness as a disposition of your heart. They take it for
weakness. That's the way the world is.
They either say a person is weak or he's timid. But you know,
neither of those things can apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is not meek and neither does He act with gentleness towards
His people because He is weak and timid. There's other names
that He identifies Himself and associates Himself with that's
very familiar to us and that shows that He's not weak. Christ
is not weak. One of the names we often associate
with Him is the Lord, isn't it? Christ the Lord. How often do
we read that statement? We identify Him not only as the
Christ, but as Christ the Lord. And Paul calls Him the Lord of
glory. And when Peter went preaching
to the Gentiles, he said, I've come preaching peace by Jesus
Christ. He is Lord of all. And when He said there in Romans
chapter 10, the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call
upon Him. He is Lord of lords. He is not
weak, is He? He is not weak. He is the Lord
of glory. He says Himself that I am the
Lord, I change not. He is the everlasting Lord. He
is immutable. He is unchangeable. He says all
power is given to me in heaven and in earth. I have power over
all flesh. All things are under His feet.
He has been given as head over all things to the church. And
He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. So His meekness is in no way
associated with weakness. That's what makes it so amazing,
isn't it? Here's the everlasting Lord. And He's meek and He's
gentle. He's mild. Meekness cannot be
associated with Christ because He is not weak. And that's what
makes His disposition so appealing is the Almighty Lord and that
He's meek and gentle. You consider him as Christ, as
Paul does here, which means the anointed of God. When you see
him identified as this title, as Christ, that means he's the
servant of God. He's the anointed of God, sent
to do the work of God, and as Christ, as the servant. My goodness,
was he weak? No, it took power to be God's
servant, didn't it? He shall not fail nor be discouraged. He shall not fail to do what?
Overcome all our enemies. He's the mighty Christ, isn't
He? And yet He's meek and He's gentle. You consider Him in His
humanity. Mary. Mary's son. That's Jesus in our humanity.
He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of
a servant, and humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death."
If you consider Him as the Lord, if you consider Him as the Christ,
the Servant, if you consider Him in His humanity, if you consider
Him as the King, that's another title that He goes after. But
no matter which way you look at Him, brothers and sisters,
In His divinity, exalted on His throne, or in His humanity in
the form of His servant, you find that He is meek and He is
gentle. He told Israel, He said several
hundred years before He came, and He reminded them when He
came, riding on that little donkey into Jerusalem, Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee. How is He coming? Meek. and lowly. King, meek and lowly? You don't see that in kings,
do you? But it's in our King. That's what amazes us. That He
is meekness and He is gentleness. So you look at Him in His humanity,
His office, His divinity, and you see Him in His meekness and
gentleness. And there He sits in heaven on
the throne. There He sits in heaven this morning on His throne.
And He's surrounded with worshipers, angels, and glorified saints,
the spirits of just men made holy. And what are they doing?
They're worshiping Him, this God-man. They're approaching
unto Him on His throne and worshiping Him. And He's not changed at
all since He got there. He was meek and lowly when He
was here, and He's still meek and gentle there upon this throne. That's what's amazing to us,
isn't it? Oh, I beseech you by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ Jesus our Lord. We seldom, if ever,
associate power with meekness and gentleness. The kings of
this earth The rulers of this world and the governors, they're
indifferent to those that's beneath them. A lot of times they're
unkind. A lot of times they're cruel to those that are beneath
them. They're repulsed and afraid or
indifferent to be approached unto by those who are weaker
than they are. You can't approach our president
this morning. You can't approach any kings,
governors. Even the mayor of this town probably
wouldn't give us Men who are powerful, they are standoffish,
they are indifferent, aren't they? But not Jesus Christ, the
Lord of Glory. He is meek and He is gentle. You know that is one of the reasons
why we are told to come to Him. I want you to look in Matthew
chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. Our Lord sent out a message while
He was here, an invitation. You might refer to it even as
a command to all of those who labored and heavy laden that
they were to come to Him. And the way He encourages us
to come to Him is by revealing to us the sweetness of His disposition. Even though He's the Lord of
glory, He has this sweet disposition. And that's what He tells us about
here in Matthew chapter 11. Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And to encourage
us to come, He reveals unto us His heart. I am meek and lowly
in my heart. It's not that he's timid. I think,
I think this passage here that we often refer to in verses 28
through 30, coming to me all you that labor and heavy laden,
I'll give you a rest. I think the context of this verses just
magnify what he said about being meek and lowly in his heart.
Because look here what he says about himself. He's not timid.
Boy, He's not timid. He's not afraid of anybody. Devils
are all nature. And look what He says in verse
20, chapter 11. Then began He to upbraid the
cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida, if the mighty works had been done in
thee, had been done in Tyre and Sodom, they would have repented
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. I say unto you, it shall be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sodom at the day of judgment than for
you." Then he goes on to upbraid Capernaum that is exalted into
heaven. He is not timid, is he? He says,
I am bringing you to judgment. And all of you will stand and
give account to Me on the day of judgment. I will judge you,
and I will tell you your faults, and I will assign you your long
home." Man, that's not a timid decision. How many times in the Bible do
we see the Lord Jesus standing up for the defense of those who
were being persecuted? And He may let it go for a while,
and He may let it go for a while now, but there's coming a day
He'll stand for those who have been persecuted and abused. And
He did it often when He was here. Remember when the Jews, in John
chapter 8, brought that poor woman to Him that had been taken
in adultery? And they said, Moses said, Stoner,
what do you say? And He said, This is what I say
to every one of you fellows. Whoever is without sin among
you, let him be the first one to cast a stone. And every one
of them left, didn't they? And He said, Woman, where are
your accusers? Nobody here to accuse you, no man, Lord. He
said, Neither do I accuse you. Go and sin no more. Mary brought
an alabaster box of ointment and poured it on His head. And
even the apostles got angry. Why wasn't this sold and given
to the poor? And you know what He said to
them? You leave her alone. He's not timid, boy. He'll confront
his own people. Leave her alone, is what he said.
She dubbed this against the day of my burial. He went to eat
dinner one day with a Pharisee. And while he was eating, this
poor woman, who was under such heaviness of conscience, came
and bowed down and began to wash his feet and dry his feet with
the hairs of her head. And all her sins were bothering
her. And he said, Simon, Simon said,
if he had known what kind of woman this was, this is a sinner
woman. What's she doing in my house?
And he was ready to throw her out and shame her and embarrass
her. And the Lord Jesus turned to
him and said, Simon, here's the difference between this woman
and you. She's forgiven and you're not. Well, he's not timid, is
he? Then he looked at that woman
and said, Woman, your sins which are many are forgiven thee. Your
faith has made you whole. Go in peace. No, He's not timid. Some people
may appear to be meek and lowly because they're so timid and
they're compromised. That's not so with Him. His timidness,
His meekness and gentleness had nothing to do with being timid.
He's the Lord of glory. And something else that's very
appealing here about this, it's found in verse 25. Look at this
in verse 25. His sovereignty. His sovereignty. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and You
have revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. He said, these proud Pharisees,
these that are wise in their own eyes, He said, they don't
even understand What you're saying, and it's because you've hid it
from their eyes. God hides things, doesn't He? He hides spiritual things from
some people. It pays to be humble before Him, doesn't it? And He
looked over to His little group of fishermen and tax collectors,
and He said, You've revealed it unto babes. I heard Henry
Mahan say one time, he said, God in His sovereignty, He goes
to these big churches that think they know something. Everybody's
been to seminar and they're so wise in their own eyes, so prudent.
They've got everything figured out. And he says he passes right
on by those fellows and goes to some little country church
that can hardly read the Scriptures and he reveals himself to them. And that's pleasing in his eyes.
He can do that because He's God. And that's the context in which
He makes this statement in verse 28. Look at this. Come unto Me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn
of Me. For I am meek and lowly in My
heart, and you shall find rest unto your soul. For My yoke is
easy, and my burden is light. Come unto me. Don't let the sovereignty
of God hinder you from coming. Don't let the sense of my awful
judgment that's to come hinder you from coming. Be encouraged
by this, what you see in my heart. And what is it? Meekness and
lowliness. You and I can't approach under
kings and we wouldn't want to. They can't help us anyway. But
oh, to approach unto the Lord of glory, to approach unto Christ,
our salvation is in His hands. And we don't have to fear to
come away with this slavish fear. We can approach unto Him because
He's meek and lowly in His heart. One man said this. I like this
so much. He said, this meekness and gentleness
is the weapon by which Christ conquers us. It is the power
of His love that subdues the human heart. He will bear with
men until His patience and gentleness shall make them ashamed of their
sins. What a powerful argument that
is. He shall bear with men, He shall be so patient with men,
and so kind and gentle, until finally they are ashamed of their
sins, and turn humbly to Him. This is what broke my heart when
I was lost in my teenage years. One of the things that broke
my heart, I had been praying all through my teenage years,
I prayed. Because I knew God was going to destroy me just
any time I was going to lay down and wake up in hell. Almost every
night I went to sleep with that on my mind. And I always said,
Lord, please don't kill me tonight. Don't kill me tonight. Give me
one more chance. One more day. I'll do better
tomorrow. And I thought somehow in my utter ignorance that He
was impressed with my promises. But you know what finally broke
me? When I sinned. That it wasn't anything in me.
that was keeping me out of hell. But it was what was found in
His heart. And when I began to wonder, why hasn't He killed
me? Why hasn't He brought His wrath upon me and sent me to
hell? Then I seen it. It was because of what was in
His heart. He's meek and He's lowly. And how He bore with me
through all my rebellious years. And that just broke me and brought
me to His feet to find mercy. You remember the story. I forget
what chapter of Genesis it's in, but it's the latter part
of Genesis' work. The famine got real bad in the land of Egypt,
and Joseph's brother finally came down to Egypt, and Joseph revealed himself to him.
Remember the story? He kept one of them in jail and
finally they had to come back and boy they were just, they
were wrung out. They said God's found us out,
you know, what we did to our brother. We sold him into slavery
and all of this and deceived our dad. And Joseph was there
talking with them and they didn't know it was Joseph. And suddenly
he was overwhelmed with emotion. He saw his little brother Benjamin,
and he got so overwhelmed with emotions, and he had to run in
the back room, and Webb collected himself and come back out. And
Judah, he started saying, you're going to leave Benjamin here.
And Judah approached him and said, oh my Lord, I come here
to be a charity for him. And I told my dad, if anything
happens to Benjamin, then I'll stay in his place. You can put
me in jail." And he bags Joseph thinking he was just some governor.
And he said, put me in jail and let him go back to his dad. And
Joseph got so emotional again, he pulled off the disguise and
he says, I'm Joseph that you sold into Egypt. And they were
stunned. Can you imagine? They were shocked. Oh, we're in trouble now, boy.
We're in trouble now. It just ain't going to be Benjamin.
Every one of us is going to jail, at least. And the Bible says
that he went up to them, got them all around the neck, and
began to weep. Can you imagine a scene like
that? He began to weep. Oh, they felt such mercy. They felt such gentleness and
meekness from this man that they had so mistreated. And the Bible
says after that they talked with Joseph. They could not even talk
with him until he demonstrated that he was nothing like them.
Isn't that Christ? Isn't that the way Jesus is?
Oh, we are so afraid of Him. Aren't we? until He makes us
say, Oh, I'm meek in my heart. I'm tender in my heart. I'm gentle. You don't have to fear to come
to me. That will break the hardest heart in this world. If that
won't break a hard heart, I don't know what will. The meekness
and gentleness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this not the thing
to this very day that keeps us coming to Him? It is, isn't it? Ramey read that passage over
in the 42nd chapter of Isaiah. And it's quoted in Matthew chapter
12 and verse 18. I'm glad you read that, Ramey.
And here's the way the Lord Jesus quotes that. Behold My servant. Here's what God is saying about
His Son. Behold My servant whom I have
chosen. My beloved in whom my soul is
well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him. He shall show judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not quarrel at us, nor
cry out against us to accuse us. Neither shall any man hear
his voice in the streets. He is not willing to go out and
reveal our utter weakness and sinfulness to others. And get
this, a bruised reed shall he not break. What's a bruised reed fit for?
You're not talking about a big stout oak tree. You're not even
talking about a little sapling. You're talking about those little
reeds that grow usually in the swamps and a lot of them are
hollow on the inside. And if you crush one of them,
it's really fit for nothing then. It can be broke over so easy.
A reed in the Scriptures is represented as something very weak. What
went you out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the
wind? And the Bible says the Lord Jesus
will not break a bruised reed. What's a bruised reed fit for?
Nothing. What would you use it for? What are you worth? What are you fit for? Don't you
feel like a bruised reed? And here's what he said, I won't
break it. I won't break it. Don't that
encourage you to come to him? That encourages me just to keep
coming to him. I feel like a bruised reed. I
feel like the next little breeze is going to take me down. But
he said no. And smoking flats will he not
quench? Probably most of you. Especially
if you're from the North, you didn't have lamps. We had coal
oil lamps in my house and our neighbors' houses. People around
us, when we were real little, they didn't have electricity.
Everybody had coal oil lamps. And at night, when they would
blow out their lamps, they would smoke, just keep on
smoking. And sometimes a lamp would run
out of oil and it would start smoking. There was some fire
there but there wasn't any light. What heat was there or what coals
that were there, the light in it gave out no heat. It was sort
of obnoxious. And what you did, you took off
the top and you ran the wick out and you took your fingers
and you snuffed it out so it wouldn't be smoking. Do you ever
feel that way? You're just nothing but a smoking
wick. Lord, that's all I am. I'm useless for nothing. A smoking
wick. And you know what He said? I
won't quench you. Is that not meekness? Is that
not gentleness? And doesn't that just cause you
to turn from your utter despair? Cause you to turn from your coldness
and indifferent and hard heart back to Him. Oh, Lord Jesus,
I had no idea, Lord. I thought You were ready to give
me what I deserved. He's wonderful, isn't He? Oh, no wonder John Bunyan said,
sometimes I feel like if I had 10,000 souls and every one of
them was lost, I could trust Him with every one of them. That's
what he went on there to say in the 12th chapter of Matthew.
Verse 22 or verse 23? After he said, Bruce Reed, shall
he not break? And smoking flax, shall he not
quench? And in his name shall the Gentiles trust. Can you trust such a Savior?
This Almighty Lord that you can approach Him to? Because of who
He is and what He is. Oh, bless His holy name. I found
Him sweet, haven't you? I found Him sweet. I think that's
why Paul said, Oh, that I may know Him. There's nobody like
Him. You're not like Him. I'm not
like Him. He's just so unique. He's so
unique. The last point I want to make
is this. what an example Christ is for us. Leaving us in an example, Peter
said, that we may follow His steps. And what was he talking
about there? But the meekness of Christ and
His sufferings. 1 Peter chapter 2. Here's what
was said of Him in His prophecy before He ever came. He was oppressed
and He was afflicted. Yet He opened not His mouth,
Never protested. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he opened
not his mouth. Boy, he could have raised, he
could have raised an objection, couldn't he? They had no right
to treat him the way they treated him. They had no right to call
him a blasphemer. Was he a blasphemer? Absolutely
not. But they called him that. whipped
him until the bones in his back were exposed, plucked all of
his beard off. He could have said, I'm not guilty
of any of this. He could have said this. He could
have said, I'll suffer this for others, but I'm not guilty. But
he opened not his mouth. Isn't it difficult not to open
your mouth when you're being persecuted? When somebody's talking
about you and accusing you and hurting your feelings, isn't
it difficult? Here's a good example for us.
Nobody was ever treated as badly as our Master. And yet He opened
up His mouth. He just kept silent. He kept
quiet. Why? What was in His heart? Meekness and gentleness. Oh, let this mind be in you.
Ain't that what Paul said? Let this mind be in you. When
he found himself in the fashion as a man in flesh, he took upon
himself the form of a servant and made himself of no reputation. You know, that's what meekness
and gentleness does. It don't make itself of any reputation. Who am I anyway to protest? I'm
nothing anyway. That's what he made himself.
Nothing. In the form of God. And yet he denied all of his
rights, didn't he? And never lifted a voice to defend
himself. What an example he is to us. You know what makes me want to
rise up sometime and defend myself? I'm somebody. I've got rights. And I want you to know it. You
can't talk to me this way and you ain't going to talk about
me this way. I'm going to confront you because I'm somebody. But
meekness and gentleness says, I'm nobody. The Son of God said
that. Yes, He did. Because He was in
our likeness, our humanity. And you know what was the only
objective He had? The Father's will to be done.
If the Father's will is done, it doesn't matter what I suffer.
That's gentleness, isn't it? That's meekness. Listen to these other words and
concepts that's associated with gentleness and meekness. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, Faith, meekness, and
self-control. Boy, I tell you, that's a good
list, isn't it? That's a good list to be. Meekness and gentleness is never
by itself. It always has these other characters
and attributes about it. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering
goodness. Listen to Colossians 3.12. Listen
to what is associated with here. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as
Christ forgive you, so do you." Meekness and gentleness is associated
with being kind and tenderhearted and forgiving. Listen to Galatians
chapter 6 and 1, what it's associated with. Brethren, if any man be
overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a
one in the spirit of meekness. Considering yourself. Why do
we forgive each other? What helps us to forgive one
another? We've got the same disposition our Master had. Meekness. In 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter was
writing to the wives to adorn themselves, not with that fancy
clothing and gold and silver and beautiful hairdos. Don't adorn yourself, he said,
in that way to draw attention to yourself. But he said, adorn
yourself this way. Let it be the hidden man of the
heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament
of a meat and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God, of great
price." That's the image of Christ, isn't it? When God looks upon
His church, He wants to see the image of His Son. And the last
one is this, Matthew 5.5, "...Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth, and heaven to boot." And you know what Christ looks
for in heaven? You know what He's going to be
looking for in His people? His image. That's what He loves
is His image. And when He sees meekness and
when He sees gentleness in His people, He sees Himself. They're
being conformed to the image of His Son. That's a good message. That's
a good message. That helps me. That helps tender
my poor heart and I hope it That's yours.